President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is showing the change for the better that a single individual can bring by challenging old ways of doing things by those who have traditionally governed the country. According to the news media and first person accounts by commentators contacted in Jaffna, the president’s visit to the Jaffna peninsula last week was a success. It seems that the president timed his visit to the north in the context of forthcoming local government elections that are anticipated to be held in April. The focus on Jaffna during his visit would have been the central place that Jaffna has as the civilizational seat of the Tamil people.